The Hawk Mercinaries
by SpacePirate Khan
Summary: How did Altair's band of mercinaries form? How did they steal the Omni Cube, and what happened in their past raids? Find out in this prequel in the villian's POV! (Chapter Three Up!)
1. The Beginning..

Disclaimer I DO NOT OWN BOMBERMAN 64 OK MAN!? IT BELONGS  
TO WHOEVER MADE IT NOT MEEE!!  
  
  
  
Time; Year X189  
Place; Planet Granite  
  
  
  
Planet Granite, a beautiful, magical planet, full of sorcerors, spellcasters  
and mystical creatures. It was also home to some of the most powerful and  
sinister warriors in history, one of which lived above the clouds in a Rainbow  
Palace, hidden from all forms of sensing magic and sight except for its owner  
himself..  
  
  
Down below, a teenager, about age 17, was walking down the street; He  
had purple hair, which stuck out in a few places, about 6 feet tall, and a strong  
build. He was, like everyone else on this planet, named after a constilation.   
His name was Altair.  
  
"Jeeze, this place is dull.." he said, passing by some knights talking to  
eachother. He did have a point; It had been quite boring lately. No threats  
to the entire planet, no evil armies... It was almost too silent. Not even  
Rainbow Palace had been heard from! Now, don't get me wrong when I  
say Rainbow Palace is sinister. The self-proclaimed ruler of the planet  
lived up there, however, and he was a harsh "ruler", and thusly he was  
treated with much fear and respect, with little to no resistance whatsoever.  
However, when a town tried to rise against him, things got ugly..  
  
  
Altair passed through a semi-transparent holograph wall and into what  
would likely be considered a "night club". It was night right now, in case I  
forgot to mention it earlier. As soon as he entered, however, a curvy red-head  
stood up at a table and waved at him. Around her sat a guy and another girl,  
who were black-haired-and-eyed twins. "Hey Altie!" she called, waving at him.  
"Over here!"  
  
Altair smiled slightly - He was a solomn character, and was bored unless he  
was constantly having excitement or risk - and walked over to the table, sitting  
beside the redhead. "Hey, Artemis. How have you been?" he asked.  
"Great!" the young lady replied. "We were just about to discuss tonight's plan!"  
"Excellent." Altair said, lowering his voice. "Where's the practice run going to  
take place?"  
"Practice run?" Artemis asked. "That's unlike you, Mr. Dangerous."  
"I think a practice run is a good idea to prepare ourselves for the real deal."  
said the other guy. "After all, his Highness wouldn't see kindly to us if we got  
caught trying to steal the Omni Cube."  
"For once you're right, bro." said the other girl.  
"Yeah. You can't blame me for wanting a practice run, Artemis. After all,  
the worst that will happen in a practice run is us gettin busted and spendin  
a few years as cell mates." Altair said. "Better than dying."  
"Ok, ok, you win. We'll hit the universal bank, midnight. We'll be able to  
purchase better armor anyway, if we make it."  
"I like the way your mind works." commented Altair.  
"Thanks, Altie. As I was saying, once we do this, we'll use some money to  
cover our tracks, and then we'll have the cash to begin our career."  
"Excellent!!" Altair said, jumping up. Everyone stared at him. He slowly  
sat down again and lowered his voice. ".. *ahem*.. anyway.. I guess I'll  
bring the supplies and see you all at midnight tonight."  
"Agreed." everyone else around their table said, as a shadowy figure  
left the bar.  
  
  
Meanwhile, an hour before midnight, in the skies above the city hovered  
a green and white palace...  
  
  
"This is a steep suspicion, Gyu. What evidence do you have of such  
crim?" asked a man in white, blue and gold armor. His shining blue  
eyes could be seen through the shadows of his helmet, the rest of his  
face hidden in darkness. He was in a mysterious, dark throne room,  
and in front of him were hundreds of card-like knights. In front of him  
kneeled a cloaked man, someone he trusted his life with as a spy.  
  
The cloaked man held up a tape recorder.  
  
"Ok, ok, you win. We'll hit the universal bank, midnight. We'll be able to  
purchase better armor anyway, if we make it." Artemis' voice said through   
the recorder, filling the eerie silence of the palace. The ruler stood and  
put one hand on his spy. "Excellent work, collegue." he said coldly. "Send  
fifty clubs and five spades to deal with them."   
  
  
  
Back Below...  
  
  
  
"Well, here goes nothing.." Altair said, packing the last of the equipment  
he could and walking out the door, towards the bank, not noticing the  
rectangular shadows passing through between the houses around him.   
  
That night, at midnight, the last few guards walked out of the  
holographic wall/door of the bank, sliding a fine sheet of crystal over  
it and locking it down shut. Altair looked around, making sure no guards  
would see him, and walked up to the large structure. Artemis and her  
friends walked up from the other way as Altair took out special cutting  
equipment. "Hope you two are ready for this." he said, keeping his voice  
low so as not to be discovered; They were all wearing solid black clothes  
and masks, Artemis having to put a black hair net on to hide her bright  
mane.   
  
"Ready as I'll ever be. Give me that cutter." Artemis said, jerking the  
cutter from Altair's clutches. She put it up against the crystal wall and  
slowly began cutting a large circle in it. Everyone else looked around   
nervously, making sure no one saw them. Artemis carefully took out  
the piece of crystal glass and laid them aside as Altair pulled out what  
appeared to be a small penlight. He pointed it at the security door  
barrier beneath the now-cut crystal and clicked on the light, disabling  
the system. He then handed out four pairs of stealth gear, heat vision  
goggles and heat reflectors. The group strapped on the gear and   
activated it; They were invisible, to the naked eye atleast. They all   
turned on the heat reflectors; It was all advanced stealth gear, and   
not even heat vision could detect them.   
  
They all stepped into the bank and turned on the heat vision. They  
still couldn't see each other, but it prevented any mistakes with sensor  
beams. Two stood guard while Altair and Artemis walked deeper into  
the bank. They passed thruogh the vault door and into the first  
security room. Altair stopped and looked around. In front of him were  
thousands of red beams, lined up so that not even a fly could pass  
undetected. Artemis was already to the side at a control panel, and  
was ripping out numerous cords. Soon, all the backup lights, including  
the sensors, sparked and went out. "Nice work." Altair said, impressed  
as the redhead continued down the hall. The two continued down the  
numerous hallways, not noticing a pair of red glowing eyes following..  
  
  
"Would you look at all this cash!" Altair exclaimed as soon as they  
entered the main vault. There was gold and currency everywhere! The  
two pulled out several heavy-duty bags and began stuffing them full   
of cash. Suddenly, they heard screaming back towards the exit..  
  
"Oh no! The twins are in trouble!" Artemis said, panicked. The two  
tied the bags shut as fast as they could then began running back   
towards the exit; Suddenly, fists blazed by the two, slamming into  
their numerous stealth gear and wiping it out. They dropped the  
smoking heat visors and stared into an android's visor. Artemis  
screamed and jumped back. "How the heck did you find us!?"  
Altair asked, enraged. The robot stared at him coldly for a minute,  
his red eyes shining through the navy blue visor.   
  
"Who are you?" asked Altair, irritably. The robot threw a punch  
at the teenager. Altair jumped back, dodging blow after blow as  
the android continued its assault. Suddenly, the robot moved   
backwards, as if on ice, and stopped. Its entire body flashed gold  
with power once before it charged at Altair. The teenager couldn't  
move out of the way in time - The android charged into him, punching  
his shouldars, then his gut, and before anyone could blink, Altair  
was flying backward from a powerful uppercut. He landed several  
yards away and jumped up, his lip busted as he stood in stance.  
The android flashed yellow again..  
  
  
Altair rolled out of the way as the robot slammed against a  
wall, bashing into it and making quite an indention. It turned and  
continued the assault; Things continued this way for hours on end,  
untill about 5 AM, and by now the place was wrecked. Artemis and  
Altair were on one side, catching their breath - Both had been  
bashing the android as best as they could - and the android himself  
was across from them, steam emitting from his joints. "You.. You're  
inhuman.." the android said, standing up as a bit more steam coughed  
out. "What is your name, boy?"  
"A-Altair.." he gasped, regaining his breath slowly.   
"No one has ever survived against me in combat..." said the robot.  
"Not even the bank's security guards stood a chance.."  
"WHAT!? You mean you're not part of the security?" Artemis shouted.  
"Not at all. I'm here for the same thing you are." said the robot. "I  
thought you two were bounty hunters."  
"How'd you see us?" Altair asked, confused.  
"Easy. No offense intended, sir, but your technology is rather  
pathetic compared to ours." the robot said. "Call me Regulus.""  
  
"Why are you robbing a bank?" Regulus asked. Altair shrugged.  
"We need the cash."  
"Yeah!" said Artemis, clenching a fist. "Some day we'll become  
mercinaries and make lots of money!"  
"Is that so? Well, bring your cash here." the android said. He handed  
the pair a map, which marked a spot in the city where a pair of  
loners lived. "We'll be happy to take you under our wing." Regulus  
dashed out of the bank before they could said anything.  
Suddenly, a look of horror struck Artemis. "The twins!" she  
shouted. Altair soon had the same look as they dashed back  
to the entrance. Artemis' eyes welled up with tears as they got  
there.. There, in the middle of the room, were the beaten,  
seared and completely lifeless corpses of the twins..  
  
  
  
"So, you're sure they've been disposed of?" the sinister ruler of  
Rainbow Palace asked his henchmen. A spaid stepped forward.  
"Yess, Masster. We killed two of them, then a security robot  
killed the rest."  
"Excellent.. You have done well, armies, and will be hanseomely  
rewarded soon." the robot said, standing on the glowing platform   
and slowly rising through the cieling and into his secreted  
chambers, of which only he has ever seen..  
  
  
"Well, that settles it." Artemis said, holding back tears. "We'll  
take the money and go join up with them.." The two walked out of   
the bank and snuck across town to where Regulus and his master  
lived..  
  
~To Be Continued  
  
Next Chapter To Be Up Soon 


	2. The Armors

Disclaimer I DO NOT OWN BOMBERMAN 64 OK MAN!? IT BELONGS  
TO WHOEVER MADE IT NOT MEEE!!  
  
Note to You:  
This episode will have lots of fighting, unlike the last one.  
And by lots I mean a LOT. And I'm trying to keep the enemy's  
life accurate to the game.. but.. I might be off track slightly   
anyway so don't say anything if I am.  
  
  
  
Time; Year X189  
Place; Planet Ganite  
  
  
  
  
Altair and Artemis woke up in an alleyway as the sun rose into   
their eyes. The Bank was flooded with cops, as was most of the town,  
and they had to run to this secreted and forgotten alley on the outskirts  
of the city. The pair stood up and began slowly making their way to the  
spot on the map, which wasn't too far from here. Artemis was still  
upset about what had happened several hours ago..   
  
After about ten minutes of just walking, they made it to what appeared  
to be the entrance to a cellar. They waited for a minute.. "Well, this is the  
place.." Altair said, checking over the map.  
"Now what?" Artemis asked, looking at the wood doors.  
"I dunno.. Wait, look here!" said Altair, pointing to some words at the  
bottom of the map. "It says "Knock thrice on the left door, and tapps on  
the right". What the heck is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Easy." Artemis said boastfully. "I pay attention to science class, unlike  
you, and I happen to know that Tapps was a song the humans used to  
play before most of them died out." She tapped three times on the left  
door, then tapped out the beat of tapps on the other. There was a scraping  
noise down below, followed by footsteps.   
  
"Who's there?" shouted out a cold voice from behind the doors. Artemis  
and Altair looked at eachother a second then back at the door. "If you don't  
tell me who's there we'll open fire!!"  
"Wait! I-I'm Altair, this is Artemis, we were told to go here by a guy named   
Regulus!"  
"And why should I believe you?" They both gulped as the clicking of a  
rifle could be heard.  
"B-Because we have money?"  
  
Suddenly the doors flung open and a young man, about the age of 22,  
jerked them down into the cellar, relocking the doors above. "Ah, a pair of  
kiddies after my own heart." said the man, sitting down at the table. "So,  
what do you need?"  
  
Altiar and Artemis sat across the table, setting their sacks of cash between  
them. "Um, well," began the redhead, "We need help.."  
"And why should I be helping you?" asked the man, leaning forward. Altair  
and Artemis looked at eachother, then back at the man, both holding up two  
bags stuffed with as much cash as they could hold. "Ahh..." the man said, "I  
see we speak the same language.. Well, then, what kind of help will you be  
needin?" The lights in the room brightened then, revealing more features about  
the man; He was about as tall as Altair, with green hair, and an average build.  
  
"Well, it's about Rainbo-" Artemis was about to say, before a metallic  
hand behind her blocked her mouth. The man looked panicked a bit.  
"Never, EVER mention you-know-where like that." he said. "We could be  
in grave danger already!"  
The robot let go of Artemis and quickly moved over to its master's side,  
revealing itself to be Regulus.   
"Ok.. We'll supply both of you with powerful armor sets. Now, let us  
introduce ourselves. You've already met my associate, Regulus, and my  
name is Orion." said the man, extending a hand. The two teenagers shook  
it one by one, both saying their name.   
"Hmm... Follow me." Orion lead the pair through a metallic door and into  
a solid steel hallway. "We have had three spare armors for quite some time  
now." said the man. "We'll be happy to give them to you!"  
"Really?" the others said in unison.  
"Sure!.. For a price."  
  
Orion put the palm of his hand on a panel next to a large metallic  
door. A green scanner went across the panel before the large door   
slowly opened up, revealing three suits of armors, many computers -  
Basically, it was a laboratory. Directly in front of them were three  
giant test tubes, all of which held a different suit of armor.  
  
"Now then.. Altair, you've got the Vega armor." said Orion proudly,  
handing Altair an instruction booklet and moving over to Artemis.  
"And you're very lucky, m'lady, this other suit is designed to fit any  
size." Orion handed her a booklet then went over to a small keyboard  
and typed in some commands. The three test tubes slowly rose as  
mechanical arms extended outward, along with the armors. Altair  
put on his purple and black armor, followed by his gold mask,   
while Artemis strapped on a horribly-fitting red armor suit.   
  
As soon as Artemis put on the mask, however, the suit   
shrunk down to match her curves perfectly. "Wow, it really  
does work!" she said, impressed. "This isn't the half of it."  
said Orion. "Read your manuals. It will only take a few minutes."  
  
Orion strapped on his green and gold star-like armor as  
the teenagers read through the manuals. Altair looked around  
soon after and held a hand up. Suddenly, a black and purple  
miniature ship hovered around the cornor and stopped in front  
of him. "Wow." Altair said, admiring his armor. Artemis slowly hovered   
into the air in the meantime, and held her hand out. The armor  
fizzled a bit before a ball of fire shot out of it. "Wow!" she said,  
slowly landing on the ground.   
  
"Excellent. You both got it down." Orion said, leading the  
trio out of the lab. "Now, about the cost.."  
"We're ready for anything." Altair said, sitting indian-style on his  
new hovercraft, Vega, flying next to Artemis.  
"One sack of that cash will pay just fine. Altair's suit is costly  
because of Vega, and Artemis, that fire generator is hard to  
come by. And both of you have bomb generators, which are   
VERY costly. So pay up." The two sighed and forked over a bag  
of money. Orion smiled and walked back into the main room.  
The three gasped as they did, however. Regulus was standing   
beside them, and there were countless shouts from above..  
  
"I told you to watch what you said.." Orion said irritably. The  
Rainbow Palace had heard everything...  
  
Suddenly, the cellar doors were blasted open as a swarm   
of clubs and spades (sets of card like warriors) ran in.   
"Guess it's time to test out our new armor.." Altair said, not  
irritated one bit. Sure he knew the severity of Rainbow Palace's  
armies, but he loved the idea of actually being able to kick their  
sorry butts..  
  
  
Before anything could start, however, Artmemis shot into the  
air and jerked her arm to one side, tossing three fireballs in  
random directions, blasting several cards and half killing most of  
the ones she hit. The guys jumped out from the doorway as the  
Spades began shooting beams of energy at them. Regulus slammed  
his fists through several cards, knocking them back, then jumped   
backwards, his body glowing gold. "Ready?" he said to the spade in  
front of him, which was turning to fire.. Before it could, though,   
Regulus charged into it, basking its left and right arms, then its   
gut, and finishing the assault with a supercharged uppercut.   
The card-like warrior cried in agony as it flew backwards into the others  
and died.   
  
Altair held out his hand to one side. A small black ball appeared  
in his hands, with a tiny fuse. The ball grew up to about the size of a  
kickball. He held it up, and decided to test out his new armor..   
He began sending vibes of energy into the bomb through his armor.  
The explosive grew larger and larger, as his ship Vega flew around at his  
command, wiping out cards with laserfire and dodging the Spade's fire.   
Regulus stopped from an attack and got slammed backwards from  
a Club's blade. Steam shot out of Regulus' body as his systems cooled   
and he began the assault again by killing the fool who attacked him.  
Orion slammed the ground and a huge barrier shot out of his armor,  
stunning a good twenty cards as Altair's bomb flashed gold. He threw  
the explosive at the cards. It bashed the head of one of them, and killed  
it instantly as a fireball hit the bomb, detonating it and wiping out about  
8 clubs.   
  
  
  
Altair jumped out of the way as a beam was fired at him. All but  
five clubs and four spades remained. Artemis shot down and dropped   
bombs on the damaged clubs, annihalating all but one, which Regulus  
finished off with a punch. A spade turned to fire at Orion, who activated  
the shield. The Spade shot a beam at it, which bounced off the shield  
and back into the card, which cried in pain as it faded away. Then, an  
entire army of Spades ran in...  
  
"Artemis!!" Altair yelled over the commotion. "Get the heck out of   
here!!"  
"No way!!" she shouted back, dodging about ten lasers. "Not without  
you! We're a team!"  
"Forget about it!!" he yelled. "Just get out of here! I can handle it!!"  
  
Regulus and Orion grabbed hold of Artemis, pulling her out. She   
struggled but couldn't fight against the two of them, which was fortunate.  
The Spades watched them leave, then all turned to fire at Altair..  
  
  
  
"Well, those foolish children should have been dealt with by now.." the  
sinister ruler of Rainbow Palace said, gazing into his Omni Cube.  
"M-Master Sirius..?" said a Heart. "T-The armies you send are dead, all  
but those spades you just send.."  
"I know, slave. Why do you think I sent more?!" Sirius popped into  
position and fired a gigantic laser into the Heart, fizzling it away into  
particles. He stood up again. "Let this be a lesson to the rest of you.  
Don't ask me stupid questions. Those kids should be dead by now.."  
  
  
Meanwhile, down below, back in the cellar...  
  
  
Altair crouched down, his armor scorched a bit as the Spades began  
recharging. Altair's eyes shined red through the armor as a barrier of  
orange surrounded him and Vega. "Playtime is over.." he said coldly as  
the two hovered into the air. Altair closed his eyes as he and Vega united,  
the ship merging into his armor. Two wires from inside his helmet attached  
to the back of his head. He felt a strange sensation, then felt an extremely  
aggressive spirit inside of himself as Vega's artificial intelligence joined with  
Altair's mind. The two slammed to the ground with an array of bombs,  
then again, repeating the process untill a good half of the Spades were gone.  
He hovered near the ceiling in the corner in front of the Spades, who got  
ready to fire at him. He disappeared as the beams shot a hole in the cellar  
wall, then reappeared behind the Spades. They turned to fire at him again,  
and the same thing happened, this time however Altair reappeared directly  
above the stupid creatures. "I'll finish you!!" Vega's synthesized voice  
shouted, as Altair shot his hands back and forth, tossing fast-moving  
blades at the Spades. They all fell backwards, stunned, as Altair rained bombs  
down on them, using the cutters to detonate the bombs faster. The  
Spades didn't stand a chance..  
  
  
  
Artemis stood in the alley with the others, watching the cellar door  
anxiously. "He's dead, isn't he?" she asked Orion. The man nodded.  
She sighed and continued looking at the cell door. Suddenly, a black,  
purple and gold mass of armor appeared in front of her. She shrieked  
and jumped back as Vega slowly removed itself from Altair's armor.  
"A-Altair..?" questioned Artemis, as the other two looked at him like  
he was a ghost. Altair nodded as he took off his helmet - the others  
already had theirs off, except Regulus, who's helmet was his head.  
Artemis threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, knocking  
the breath out of him.  
  
"Sorry to break this up, you two.." said Orion, "But the Emperor won't  
be happy when his armies don't return. Whatever you're plotting  
against the Palace, you'd better do it fast."   
As soon as those words left his mouth, a cloaked figure disappeared   
around the corner and took flight towards the clouds...  
  
~To Be Continued  
  
Next Chaper To Be Up Soon 


	3. The Omni Cube

Disclaimer I DO NOT OWN BOMBERMAN 64 OK MAN!? IT BELONGS  
TO WHOEVER MADE IT NOT MEEE!!  
  
Note to You:  
Since Battle Scenes are my specialty, I'll be adding more of them  
in this episode. And then we'll see a climatic clash at the end when  
they attempt to steal the Omni Cube.. Oh, and this one will be a   
little inacurate to the game in terms of weaponry.. In short, the  
Heart enemies will have bladed poles, the Clubs will have  
double-edged swords, the Spades will still have their lasers,  
and the Diamonds will shoot shuriken-like weapons. Other  
than that it's pretty accurate. Oh and I accidently made this  
episode a touch longer than I wished.. but oh well.  
  
  
  
  
Time; Year X189  
Place; Planet Granite  
(Note that the time and place will matter in the future, which is why I  
even bother to list them.)  
  
  
  
Orion and the others were in an abandoned alley, discussing their  
plot. "Here's the deal," Altair said, "We've planned this raid for the last  
year, but we didn't expect to have two more helping hands."  
"For a price." Orion chimed in. Altair and Artemis sighed and handed  
him a bag of money again. "Ahh, glad to see we still speak the same  
language..."  
"As I was sayin," Altair continued, "Regulus, you'll fly up and make note  
of where the guards are so we can hopefully sneak in. After that, come   
down and tell us. Then we'll set up a movement plan. We'll sneak in as  
best as we can and steal the Omni Cube before they know what hit'em!  
And if emperor Sirius finds out, then we'll fight the best we can. Any  
questions?"  
They all shook their heads.  
  
"Good. Let's go. Ready, Regulus?" Altair asked, sliding his helmet back on.  
The android nodded and looked up, activating his jet pack and taking off  
into the clouds.. In case you haven't guessed, this will be very hard to do  
because no technology can see this palace with radar or anything except  
basic sight. "Where to start.." Suddenly, he saw a cloaked figure ahead  
of him, moving north by northeast. "There we go.." Regulus said silently,  
loosely trailing the figure.  
  
Then, off in the distance, he saw the palace...  
  
  
Regulus sunk a bit lower as he flew towards it, using the clouds as a  
cloaking as he drew near. The android popped out on occasion to see where  
he was; After all, one dumb mistake could lead to your demise on a job   
such as this one.   
  
  
  
  
"Who the heck are you?" Orion asked the shadowy black robot below.   
While waiting for Regulus to come back, a pitch black robot with wings  
had walked up to them and offered his assistance. The black cyborg took  
a bow. "You can call me Atlas." he said. "And lets just say I have a bone  
to pick with a certain someone in the palace."  
"Good, we need all the help we can get." Artemis said. "We'll get to  
know him better later."  
"Well, when are we going?" Atlas asked impatiently.  
"Atlas," explained Orion, "we're waiting for an associate of ours to  
return. Untill then, have patience. We'll strike soon enough."  
  
  
  
Regulus circled around the palace once more, taking mental note  
of the guard's movement patterns, how many, etc. There were fewer  
guards then there should be.. After looping around the castle several  
times and looking in all the windows of the throne room, he began  
flying back down at high speeds. He passed below the clouds, and   
then into the abandoned alley, slowly landing in front of the four down  
below. He immediatly glared at the black robot, his red eyes shining  
through his navy blue visor. "Who's this?"  
"This is Atlas." Altair said. "Atlas, Regulus. Regulus, Atlas. Good now  
we're all introduced to eachother let's go." he said quickly, hopping on  
Vega as it flew by. Artemis took flight and chased after him. Regulus  
picked up Orion and flew after them, and the black robot flew ahead   
of the four. "I'll lead you to the palace!" he shouted back at the four.  
  
  
And so he did. The mysterious shadow robot led them straight  
through patches of thick clouds and fog directly towards the castle.  
"How'd he do that?" Regulus asked, confused, as they stopped   
close to the castle. "What do you mean?" Artemis asked. No one  
else seemed to hear the two.  
"I mean it took me ages to find this stupid place." Regulus said.  
  
  
Suddenly, the shadow bot flew in and wiped out all the guards.   
The rest of the group slowly hovered in, confused. "I'll stand guard."  
Atlas said, standing near the entrace to the palace. "You four  
go in." The others didn't ask questions; They all flew across the gap  
and into the palace.  
  
  
As soon as they entered, however, the door slammed shut and the  
lights went out, leaving them in a darkness so thick you could almost   
feel it.. Then, a gigantic white mask appeared in front of them..  
(sound familiar, Bomberman 64 experts? This guy's always been the  
guard of this palace..)  
  
  
The mask slowly spun around, getting smaller, untill it stopped, and  
the image of a jester appeared.. "Welcome." cackled the jester. "All  
that have come here, though they've tried, have fought against me, and  
very soon died." The jester cackled once more as he clapped his hands   
and a flash of blinding light lit the room with magic. The jester shuffled  
a deck of playing cards and cackled some more. "Let's play." he said,  
tossing a card at the group. "We have to fight this clown?" Altair said,  
highly ticked off. The card enlarged to show a picture, then the jester  
began hurling cards at the groupd.. The first one exploded, sending them   
sprawling in seperate directions, and the next few were on their way..  
  
  
"I can't believe they fell for it." Atlas said, slowly hovering into the topmost  
part of the palace outside...  
  
  
Altiar dodged the last of the cards as the jester hurled another large   
card at the group. Vega fired a laser at the jester - It tore through his   
cape, doing nothing to the creature to harm him as he jumped away from  
the bombs being hurled at him, cackling like a madman as the card enlarged,  
revealing a giant snake picture. The jester disappeared into his own  
shadow as six black and six white masks spun around in a wide circle.  
Suddenly, a raging fire errupted in the middle of the masks as countless   
fireballs singed the masks. And then, from the flames errupted a gigantic  
snake of fire that began chasing Regulus. The robot dashed away from it,  
slamming his fist into the jester as he passed, doing no damage as the snake  
drew closer to him. Artemis began shooting fireballs like mad at the jester.  
She got a lucky shot. One fireball scorched the mask, another burnt the cape,  
and the final one hit his shadow.. The shadow stood up like a living creature and  
yelled in agony before going back down no a normal shadow.   
  
The jester glared at the group angrily, dodging Orion's energy barrier.  
"You little whelps.." he said coldly. "How dare you! You ruined my cape!!"  
  
  
Suddenly, the room around them darkened, along with the floor,  
making it appear as if they were in space.. "What the heck is this??"  
Artemis said. The basic look of the room was very disturbing, and it  
was very easy to get distorted. "Stop with the spells and fight us like a  
man!!" yelled Orion. The jester laughed. "No way.. I'm having WAY too much  
fun torturing you!!"  
  
Regulus turned and flashed gold, slamming into the fire snake. He  
went through it instead, however, and his armor began overheating   
fast as he ran away from the snake, steam emitting from his joints.  
The jester cackled insanely as his shadow hid in the blackness of  
the room. Shooting stars began pouring down like rain, knocking   
Altair to the ground as Vega shot most of the stars. While all this  
was going on, however, a giant mask appeared, spitting out  
a bunch of skulls and other powerups. "Here, take some!" he  
cackled madly as the skulls drifted into the various people. The  
snake smoked and faded as another ring of masks appeared;  
Altair and the others flashed yellow as the skulls touched them  
and each became infected with a different poison. Orion suddenly  
stopped. "Wh-Why can't I move...!?" he yelled as the ring of masks  
surrounded him. As the giant mask faded, fists began pounding the   
ground around the ground in an attempt to crush them as the stars  
rained down mercilessly. Altair stood up and tried to take a bomb  
out but somehow he couldn't! "What the heck's going on here!?"  
he yelled angrily. Orion tossed a bomb, but it exploded before it could  
go anywhere, nearly burning him. Regulus stopped trying to move as a giant  
foot appeared above him, but then his body flew forwards as fast as   
it could and slammed into the wall as the giant foot crushed the ground where  
he once stood. Artemis was about to attack when she suddenly shrunk down  
to half a foot's height! She dashed around a lot faster, but was a lot  
weaker now.. "What the heck did he do to us!?" she yelled in a tiny  
high-pitched voice. The stars kept raining down, one of them bashing  
into Artemis and sending her flying backwards as Vega suddenly grew four  
times as big from a poisoning he had. The stars that hit him merely  
scratched his paint job as it fired a gigantic laser at the jester.  
The spell maker's shadow yelled in agony as the spells stopped abruptly.  
Then, suddenly, the jester began cackling madly. The room reverted  
back to normal.  
  
  
The poisons wore off; Artemis grew back to her normal, curvy self,   
Altair's bomb generator began working right again, Regulus' movement  
speeds reverted back to normal, Vega shrunk down to normal size,  
and Orion's bombs stopped blowing up so fast. Everyone stood in  
the center of the room, awaiting attack. The jester looked at them,  
smiling psychotically. His shadow began fluctuating up and down  
as his sickening cackle filled the room, and in one last echoing  
cackle he disappeared, all except his mask, which fell to the floor  
where his shadow once was.  
  
  
Everyone stared at the smoking mask, the psychotic cackle   
ringing in their minds as it faded. "That.. was weird.." Artemis  
commented. There was a bright light and they were all   
teleported to the upper floor.  
  
  
  
They walked through the huge doors that lead into the main room   
of the second floor. A deafening silence filled the air.. "Smells like a  
trap to me." Orion said coldly, leading the group into the room. They passed  
by several thick columns (I could care less if I spelled that right)  
and when they were halfway across the bizarre corridor, they heard  
marching...  
  
Suddenly, there was a cry of "GET THEM!!" as atleast thirty card like  
warriors of each type flooded into the room..  
  
  
"Piece of cake." Altair said cockily as the groupd took stance. The  
clubs began spinning their blades around as the spades aimed at the  
group. Then all spades opened fire and the armies charged; Artemis  
immediately hovered into the hair, tossing fireballs downward at the  
enemies as Altair jumped on Vega and flew upward, turning down to   
rain laserfire on what cards he could. Regulus charged up his systems  
and began brutally assaulting all the enemies in the room as Orion used   
his stunning shield to keep the foes down as best as he could. Several  
Clubs beat on his shield as a few Hearts began tossing shurikens at the  
flying warriors. Artemis hovered backwards, dodging a few of the   
blades and hurling fireballs at the source, as Vega flew out of the way of   
another group of Shurikens.   
  
Regulus literally ripped through another cardlike knight, tearing it apart  
as its remaints faded before a group of clubs overwhelmed him with  
the flats of their blades. A good 10% of the army was wiped out as Vega  
dealt a finishing strike to an entire row of them, while Orion let loose   
another barrier, knocking back the foes. Artemis tossed a fireball past  
Altair, burning the Spade behind him before she was slammed back a   
ways by another Spade's laser. Several shurikens riccochet off Altair's  
helmet, knocking him off balance. He fell into the battle, being forced   
to fight the old-fashioned way as he began hurling bombs at foes.   
  
There was a flash of light while the others were fighting, and Altiar and  
Vega seemed to have vanished. Regulus slammed the head off yet  
another group of Diamons and Hearts, and then a shower of green blades  
rained down upon the cards, wiping out a good 45% of what remained.   
There were only about five from each set now as Altair appeared, united  
with Vega once more, hovering in the air. "Get out!!" Altiar yelled as he heard  
more marching outside. Everyone continued fighting. "What, you think I'm going  
to miss out on this, Altie?" Artemis asked playfully, tossing another few   
fireballs at the defenseless diamonds. "I said get out!!" yelled Altair and Vega  
simultaneously as spades and clubs began flooding in through the two  
doorways. Regulus had already tripped the four switches that opened  
the teleporter, and helped Orion in dragging Artemis to it. Orion and   
Artemis disappeared in a flash of green as Regulus flew up to  
meet Altair, back to back.   
"Forgive me, sir." said the robot, "but there is no way you can possibly  
take them out by yourself.."  
  
Altair nodded. "As long as Artemis is out of here.." he said as the  
room was filled with laserfire..  
  
  
  
Orion and Artemis appeared in a small room where the Omni Cube was  
held.. "There it is!" she yelled as the two ran up to the Cube. Altair and  
Regulus appeared behind them, their armors scorched slightly. What, did  
you honestly think those cards stood a chance? Pfft, yeah right.  
  
Altair slowly walked up to the gently pulsating cube. It hovered about  
two feet off the ground, spinning around slowly. He slowly reached down,  
about to touch it, when something black as a shadow slammed into him.  
He was knocked back into the wall as Atlas took stace. The black slowly  
faded away, revealing his true identity to be..  
  
"Sirius!!" they all yelled in shock. The emperor scowled under his mask.  
  
"You fools..." he said coldly. "You little imbeciles.. Do you know how much  
you have made me lose in this little game of yours? 60% of my knights are  
dead now, and we have to reincarnate our Spellmaker all over again because  
of your insolence!!" Sirius jumped back as two panels opened up and he  
shot a gigantic beam of energy at Altair, slamming the knight through the  
wall. The black-clad warrior plummeted away from the small chamber,  
bouncing off the roof of the main palace and finally landing on the front  
garden, bashing against a wall and falling on his face. By now, however,  
everyone had gotten ready to strike. Altair jumped into the air and   
hurled several fireballs at Sirius, as Orion hurled several bombs  
at the white knight, and Regulus charged at him as fast as he could.  
Sirius kicked the bombs in random directions and jumped away from  
the fireballs before getting slammed through the wall behind him by  
Sirius, feeling the impact of 3 tons. Regulus stopped for a moment   
as steam began emitting from his joints and Sirius plummeted  
out of the palace.   
  
Orion walked up to the edge of the hole and looked down. There  
was no trace of Sirius. Suddenly, Artemis screamed "LOOK OUT!!", but  
it was too late. Orion yelled in agony as a gigantic beam of energy  
tore at him, slamming him out of the palace with an impact far  
worse than that Regulus had done. Regulus jumped aside just in time  
as Orion was slammed out of the castle. The android dashed out of  
the castle as Artemis stood up to attack Sirius. Sirius laughed and   
flew above her, kicking her to the ground before he began charging  
up a laser blast to wipe her out... Suddenly, hundreds of small green  
blades shot into him in a swarm as Altair flew into the room.   
  
  
Sirius growled and kicked Altair in the gut, before twirling around  
and smashing his heel into Altair's face, knocking the teenager to the   
ground. Then he turned to attack Artemis, dodging another barrage  
of fireballs.. The panels in his wings opened up as he began charging  
a beam.. And then suddenly, something slammed into him with the  
force of five tons, sending him flying out of his own palace and into  
the wild blue yonder. Regulus stopped cold, emitting a smokescreen  
of steam from his joints as his nearly-overheated systems cooled.  
Orion laughed as he climbed the rest of the way up; Regulus had  
flewn out to save him, but dropped him to attack Sirius a bit too  
early and he had to hang on to the palace for dear life.  
  
Altair picked up the Omni Cube. It instantly shrunk down to fit  
in his pocket as the group flew out of the damaged palace...  
  
~To Be Continued  
  
NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON! 


	4. The Escape

Disclaimer (which I keep repeating) I DO NOT OWN BOMBERMAN 64 OK MAN!?  
IT BELONGS TO WHOEVER MADE IT NOT MEEE!!  
  
Warning:  
Dagnabit, I put a bit too much violance in this episode. There goes our   
PG Rating. So sorry = P I always do that because I LOOVE violance somehow.  
Oh poo. Oh well. Atleast this prequel is one of my better works.  
  
  
Last time, on this fanfiction, in case you don't remember somehow, the  
soon-to-be group of mercinaries secured the Omni Cube, wrecked a few  
walls of the Palace, and made it out in one piece! And now, as a bit of  
pre-warning, this episode will be revolving around their escape...  
  
  
  
[Time] [Year x189]  
[Place] [Planet Granite]  
  
  
  
Regulus dropped down from the sky and landed on a tall building's  
roof with a thud, sending a few shingle shards flying around him. He put  
Orion down as Vega slowed to a halt next to them with Altair sitting on it,  
staring into the shrunken Omni Cube. "Well, atleast I can make it change  
sizes," said the teenager, repocketing the cube as Artemis dropped down  
behind the group. They all sat down, exhausted. Stealing the Omni Cube was  
much harder than they'd thought. Artemis laid back and looked at the  
clouds and red sky above. It was, in Earth's old time, close to sunset.   
  
Suddenly, Artemis sat up and stared at something far off.. "Hey guys.. um..  
that's an airplane.. isn't it..?" she asked, slightly scared. They others all looked  
up, confused, and saw a winged object in the distance.. It was too small to be  
a hovercraft or plane of any sort....  
  
Then they all looked at eachother in horror as they saw shining gold  
plating on the "plane"... "SIRIUS!!" they all yelled in unison as they jumped  
up and got ready to run. The group jumped across a gap to the next  
rooftop, then jumped to one side, dodging a red laser that scorched the roof-  
top as the shadow of Sirius moved swiftly across the rooftop. "I thought you  
got rid of him!" Orion shouted to Regulus as they hurled over the gap across  
a street to another rooftop. They heard a familiar whooshing of air as Sirius  
drew closer and all fell down the next gap, barely escaping a gigantic beam  
of laserfire that wiped out an entire building into particles. "Why the heck did  
you steal the cube!?!?" yelled Orion as they ran down the alley. They heard  
Sirius closing in from behind. The emperor landed, collapsing his wings as he  
continued the chase on foot; It was too close-quartered to fly.   
  
  
"SLOW DOWN NOW AND I MIGHT LET YOU LIVE!!" yelled Sirius, hurling red  
bombs at the group as they jumped down a manhole into a subway station  
where magnet trains ran. The group slowed down in the dark tunnel, halfway  
between the roof and the tracks. They were all flying in their usual way, with  
Artemis on her own, Altair riding Vega surf-style, and Regulus was usin his  
jets, holding on to Orion. In about three seconds, however, they heard a   
loud whooshing sound as Sirius followed them down in there, wings already  
extended as he began chasing them. "So be it.." he said codly before shooting  
his red laser at the group, tearing up the ground and creating a rather obnoxious  
smokescreen of dust.   
  
They rounded the first bin, then heard a whirring noise and flew to one side,  
just escaping their emminent doom as a magnet train darted by at a good   
300-mph. Sirius looked wide-eyed as he rounded the bend, his wings scraping   
the wall as the cruel emperor continued chasing the mercinaries, still attempting  
to blast them away with red lasers. Artemis twirled around, hurling fireballs at him,  
then stared wide-eyed as a train whacked into her, sprawling her behind Sirius before  
she could regain balance. Sirius instantly stopped and dashed backwards, and   
pushed Artemis downwards as she regained consciousness. Altair and the others  
turned and flew back towards Sirius and Artemis in an attempt to rescue her.  
  
  
Artemis shrieked as Sirius pushed her backwards, slowly trying to force her  
head down into the electrical rails below. She pressed her palms up towards his  
gut, trying her hardest to fight back, her head inches from the ground. She looked up in   
horror as tran lights could be seen before kicking Sirius towards the oncoming lights as  
she flew past the others, who quickly turned-tail and chased after her. Sirius turned at  
them and glared, then turned around, wide-eyed. "Oh, my..." he said as the train  
slammed into him. He jumped off the front of the train, his armor scratched, just in  
time to see the other three fly out of the subway past a swarm of people. Sirius dashed   
after them as everyone in the subway stared at him, horrified.   
((note; battles to be slightly more detailed form hereon.))  
  
The group now flew above the cities, in a desperate attempt to aviod  
death. Sirius yelled angrily, firing various rays at the group at random as they  
ducked and dodged the best they could, passing through several clouds.  
Sirius stopped suddenly as the others disappeared. He glared around at the surrounding  
clouds angrily; In case I didn't mention this, they were fighting above the  
clouds right now. An endless sea of red sky and pink clouds. He sniffed the  
air from under his mask, still staring at the clouds, waiting for any sign of  
movement.. Suddenly, the next shot was fired. A red shining laser blasted  
from one cloud, creating a spiraling hole in it. The beam blasted into Sirius,   
going straight through his left arm. As Sirius turned to fire at Altair, the hole in  
his armor emitting green blood from the alien man within, he heard a shout  
from below. The emperor looked down in horror as a green barrier of light  
enlarged from the clouds below him, parting them. It started several meters  
below the Emperor's feet, and the barrier itself was barely touching his foot,  
sending a sickening tingling feeling throughout his entire left leg. Suddenly,  
the barrier exploded into a huge one, filling up the opening Sirius was in,  
the barrier enclosing his entire body in stunning force as the clouds parted,  
revealing the space station below. As Sirius began to recover, Artemis landed three  
fireballs perfectly into his helmet before joining the others in a mad dash down  
towards the space station.   
  
  
Artemis was behind all the others in the dash, hurling below the last few  
clouds and nearly to the ground of the station.... Suddenly, she stopped,  
gasping in pain as she felt immense heat in her lower back, her armor  
severely scorched - If not for her armor being build to withstand fire  
so easily, she would have been ran through instantly. She twirled around,  
still falling, gazing in horror at the figure coming down at her at a rate  
three times faster than hers. Sirius. Smoke emitted from his visor from  
the flames, his blue eyes shining through, leaving a hideous smokescreen  
behind, giving himself the image of a demon as he slammed his foot into  
Artemis' gut, using his jets backwards, slaming her into the ground, using  
her body to break his fall and as a take-off pad as he activaed his jet pack  
and roared into the air after the other three, leaving a scorched and slightly   
bleeding Artemis behind.  
  
  
The other three realised Artemis was missing and stopped, landing   
a bit away from Sirius, looking behind them. They saw her beaten body  
lying on a landing pad and flew towards it. Suddenly, however, Orion was  
bashed backwards by a hearty kick to the face. He stood up, coughed out  
a bit of blood (and a tooth) as Sirius landed in front of him, charging into  
him without hesitance and piledriving the mercinary into the cement,  
sparks flying from the armor. He kicked off of Orion's helmet, doing a   
backwards summersault, landing close behind the slowly stopping   
mercinary in front of him. He slowly walked up to Orion, his hands glowing   
with red power.  
  
  
Altair knelt beside Artemis, helping her up. "You alright?" he asked,  
a look of concern hidden by his golden mask. Artemis knodded.  
"Yeah.. just a scratch. I'll be fine." she said. Altair put her arm around his  
shouldars and jumped on his ship Vega, flying towards the nearest  
space ship in sight.  
  
Sirius held Orion up by the neck, and began bashing his gut with an  
iron fist. Suddenly, however, something slammed into his shouldar,  
nearly cracking it with force as he was sprawled around, another first  
bashing into his other shouldar, then one more in his gut, his body  
bending over double in agonizing pain as a final uppercut finished  
the assault, sprawling the emperor towards a smaller ship. He  
landed on a missile, setting off a chain reaction that detonated several   
ships, causing a gigantic fire to add even more chaos to the occasion.  
Regulus stopped, a smokescreen of steam shooting from his joints before  
his jet back fired off. He flew into Orion, picking the mercinary up and  
carrying him towards the others.  
  
  
The mercinaries had reunited and were dashing for a gigantic, black,  
fortress-like space station nearby. Regulus seemed to be talking into a  
wrist communicator as they neared the station. The flames behind them  
spread, melting pipes and causing a flamable gas leak, making the flames  
errupt to three times their normal size, streaks of blue filling them as hellish  
smoke rose into the sky. Artemis, Altair, and Orion went into the ship, Altair  
helping both in as Regulus stood guard outside. He stared deeply into the  
flames in front of him, awaiting his request he made a minute ago to be   
met. His red eyes widened and shined through his navy blue visor as he saw  
two small blue lights flashing brighter than the flames, drawing nearer at an  
alarming rate as Sirius slammed Regulus into the wall of the ship with a   
barrage of punches and kicks, and an occasional laser. Regulus was slightly  
weakened, black scorch marks on his chest, somache, and upper left arm.   
Sirius cackled as he began charging his most powerful yellow beam.  
  
"Looks like the end of the line for you, robot." said Sirius coldly, his  
body emitting a faint golden glow. "You and all your friends are history.  
As soon as I'm done charging this anti-matter beam, I will teach all  
four of you a lesson in why you never should have crossed me in the  
first place." His body pulsated with energy a few minutes later. He  
was preparing to fire when he heard marching and random shouting  
from behind.. He turned and stared in horror at the army of soldiers  
coming towards him. Regulus smiled to himself as he ran into the   
ship. The armies, although many died, quickly overwhelmed   
Sirius with their numbers, knocking him out cold as they flooded  
into the various regeons of the ship. The four mercinaries stood in the main  
room atop the highest tower of the station, looking at several hologram  
moniters showing the activity around the ship. "How are we gonna get out  
of here?!" Altair yelled, panicked. "I have no idea how to fly one of these!"  
  
"It wouldn't matter if you did," Orion explained, a bit of blood dripping  
from his nose, "unless this army was here. It takes many men to man a  
space station of this calibur, and all my armies are trained and willing to  
help you out."  
"Really?!" Altair and Artemis said in unison, their eyes wide with   
excitement.  
"Sure!" said Orion, sliping his helmet off with a smirk. I bet you can  
all guess what he's about to say before he says it... "For a price."  
  
  
The other two sighed and forked over their last sack of cash. Orion  
hugged the sack like a child. "Aahh, the smell of unmarked credits.."  
he said happily. The ships engines roared as they powered up..  
  
  
Sirius opened his eyes barely as the roar filled his ears and jumped  
up angrily, blasting an anit-matter beam into the flames. It made a gigantic  
parting in the fire and in the land around it as it split everything it touched into  
particles, before Sirius realised what was happening. He turned and glared  
as the ship began flying into the air, the severely hazardous, practically  
radioactive heat emitting from the ship's engines not phasing him in the  
slightest as the ship took off. He turned tail and shot off into the clouds..  
  
  
"MAN THE CANNONS!!" Orion yelled over the intercom. "TAKE EVERY   
CONTROL IN THE SHIP!! ACTIVATE ALL SECURITIES AND PREPARE THE   
SHIP'S MAIN WEAPONS!!"  
  
  
Everyone stared in horror as the ship slowly hovered above, in space.   
A panel opened in the bottom of the ship, blue particle energy surrounding  
the barrel of the cannon that came out before a deadly blue beam shot  
out of the ship's particle cannon, wiping out an entire city in the hideously  
huge flames that followed.. In no time flat, the entire planet was destroyed..  
  
  
"Alright, men..." echoed an eeriely sinister voice throughout the halls of  
Rainbow Palace, which was now floating in space. "We're stuck inside this  
magically protected atmosphere untill we find a safe place. I want no one  
to walk out of here, as you will quickly die without an oxygen source.  
Our Spellmaker has been revived, and will lead our palace after me. I  
can breath in space, unlike the rest of you. Remember that. You cannot  
breath in space, and you had better not try."  
  
Sirius sighed irritably as he said this, seeing a card floating in  
space from one of the large windows. He teleported himself   
out of the palace and into space, jetting after the humongous black  
space station, his palace following, cloaked in Spellmaker's magic..  
  
  
  
  
"Well, we did it.." Artemis gasped out of relief. "We're finally done with  
that place.."   
"We're now officially the Hawk Mercinaries!" Altair said happily. "And  
this can be our base, the.. ehr... umm.."  
"Black Fortress!" Artemis chimed in. "We'll be raking in the cash now!!"  
"I've always had a softspot for ambitious youngsters like yerself." Orion  
said with a hearty laugh. "Consider me and my armies under your command."  
"Really?" Altair asked. "You mean it?!"  
"Sure!" said the mercinary. Yep, let's all say it together; "For a price."  
  
  
~*~Prologue*~*  
  
The Black Fortress shot into space towards the neraly-abandoned Milky  
Way galaxy, conquering its first planet, Old Earth, and taking a huge chunk  
of it with them, using a strategic shielding system to help protect their space  
station better and to give the Omni Cube power. Sirius watched them furiously  
as their power grew. There was no way he could stop them now. Unless he could  
find someone stupid enough to kill the mercinaries for him....  
  
center  
~fin  
/center  
  
How'd you like the prequel? I might add one last chapter detailing their past  
raids... But.. I'm not quite sure yet. Please Review If You Liked It Or You Will Be  
Considered An Ungrateful Little... um.. Person!... Yeah!... ... ok nevermind. Just  
review please. 


End file.
